Soul Survivor: Trials of the Goddess

I really enjoyed this game. I really liked all of the different class options, as well as the gear customization that was available. The sound, graphics, and gameplay were all on point, and stayed consistent with that Retro style that it was hoping to achieve. Congrats to the developer!

I'm already going to play more of this after just beating the first act. What a cool game. Pick 3 enemies to fight, pick 3 types of loot, and progress. I also think it's possibly not randomly generated, which I'm cool with. At least if you die on the same run and go again. It's cheap, it's fun, its got reasons to come back to it, and the dev seems like a good dude. Easy recommend from me.

This is a well made short RPG. I've done a couple of runs so far, and have not hit any crash bugs or other issues that often plague indie games. I will say though as a small disclaimer this is not really a rouge like game. You DO get some upgrades, but they only apply to what you can pick when you start out as far as I can tell. Also it is best to play this as an RPG first. I'd highly suggest using the unlimited lives version to learn how to play it, as you can and will fail often, especially in more squishy builds. Or use your save spots well. If I had any suggestions for improvements...I'd like to see a few permanent upgrades that apply without having to select them. But as short as the game is it might be tough to do this without breaking the entire game. In fact that might be a better idea for their next game too.

Fun retro feel and tons of builds to try. This game has huge replay potential

SS:TotG is fun and has a lot of hidden things around the map that encourage you to explore the grid. Your choices matter in what you do, and the inclusion of explorer mode is nice for anyone wanting to try something out. There are smart choices in game play design that make it accessible to new players and enjoyable on repeat runs. Currently running through Proton on a PoP_OS distro and the game plays wonderfully.

Disclosure before I get into the review, I know the developer personally in a few circles and composed a couple tracks for this game. I will be withholding any bias to the best of my ability with this review. So, admittedly I'm not a huge Roguelike guy. Just a personal taste thing, it's not necessarily anything wrong with the genre. With that said, Soul Survivor is a game that absolutely managed to get me hooked in the same way other roguelikes worked so well for fans of that genre. The game utilizes this "Three Life" system, where dying does take you back to the beginning of a chapter, but if you have any lives remaining, you're allowed to carry over three things from your previous life (equipment, skills, pretty much anything you picked up on your last run). So, right off the bat, dying in this game makes me eager to rush back in, and in a way it sorta allows you to build up "momentum". If you get really far on your first life, it feels fantastic knowing that if and when you do inevitably perish, all of that progress will make you even stronger on the next life by freeing up more options on the next run. This system also makes it really fun to "learn" each floor: while there is a degree of randomness, it's far less procedural than a "randomly generated" dungeon crawler, and you can reliably plan out strategies for the types of options you can expect on each floor. The game has a variety of awesome secrets to find that make each run feel like you're actually getting stronger. The very first time I played the game, I struggled to get past Floor 3, whereas now while casually doing a run just to get some playtime for this review, I steamrolled into Floor 4 just from knowing the game so well (I didn't die by the way, just figured I'd hit a good enough stopping point!) The game really rewards you for mastery, while also continuously challenging you. I've only managed to beat the entire game once, and even with all my knowledge it took just about everything I had. There are some areas of tension, of course. Often running out of lives has the opposite effect of making me feel that I've hit a good "stopping point" and don't feel compelled to continue (but on the flipside running out of lives gives you the opportunity to try out a brand new build, which I'm always excited for). Sometimes there are secrets that require certain skills or items, and while I'm often able to capitalize on these, the mild randomness combined with a lack of foresight on a first run can often mean the game feels a bit like it's punishing you for making the wrong choices before you know they're coming. Furthermore, as you get deeper and deeper into a specialized build, the choices become increasingly narrow with their usefulness. On my last run, by the time I had basically locked myself into a dodge-tank Red Mage build that relies on shields to restore resources, I didn't find a whole lot of use for the two-handed weapons and TP scrolls I was getting offered. Sometimes I would even find myself grabbing whatever junk was lying in front of me just to take SOMETHING. That said, the combat alone makes all of that worth it. It's an extremely addictive loop of analyzing the strengths of your own build, speccing harder into them, and executing that strategy against the enemies that feel most fruitful in rewards without running severe risks to your resources. The game has a plethora of deep options for how you can play it, and they're all generally balanced (although in my personal experience I've found Defence builds seem to be the "meta"). Every run I take feels entirely unique because the win condition changes even with the very first choice (which class you want to play). Sometimes I'm an aggressive Mage that blasts enemies with a seemingly infinite MP pool before they can hurt me, other times I'm a bulky damage sponge that wins my fights through sheer attrition. It's amazing to theorycraft possible builds and make choices to spec into those builds, and to the types of players that may be put off by the less-random nature or the ability to save making the game less true to its roguelike roots, I recommend trying it anyway to get a taste of the awesome loadout-esque player building mechanic. Once you hit the end of the demo, you'll find yourself begging for more!

Lots of fun. These retro-style games always make me think of the good old days playing RPGs on my NES system. This game is difficult, but has a really interesting and unique play style that keeps you engaged. If you're into classic RPGs, or even just want to try out a game that has just a little bit of a different take on gameplay than your usual fare, I certainly recommend trying this one out.

This is one of my favorite RM game ever. Fantastic gameplay loop. Very roguelike in design but with it's own style. Check it out if you are a fan of Rogue rpgs.

This is a roguelike so expect this game to be hard with multiple failed attempts! I recommend playing through the normal mode as explorer mode has the exact same layout every time and may get repetitive ;) This is one of the few roguelikes I found where I have to be super selective of my choices where most others I just grab and hoard everything and hope all my equipment is good enough. The dev's "Take 3 Fight 3" design is incredibly smart

What you can expect from the game are: -A captivating, fine-tuned dungeon crawling -Rogue-like with free style character building -Some retro dark souls goddess kind of story -And a cover character who somehow looks like Ouken from Osama Ranking It's totally not one of those boring indie games and would recommend Edit: Beat first playthrough, and the gameplay is extremely fun!!!